Agent Fowley's Return
by ElizabethAnnFanfic
Summary: Missing scenes fic from The End 5x20. Angst and UST. Agent Diana Fowley makes a reappearance into Mulder's life. Mulder and Scully both deal with the consequences.


Timeline: 5x20 The End

Category: Missing scenes episode fiction

'Perfect timing. Well, is there ever a good time for an ex to waltz back into your life? Probably not.' Except, Mulder was still glad to see her. She tugged at his heart, making him recall pleasanter times that they had shared. It had been an easy relationship. They were intellectual equals. They shared similar interests. They believed in the same things. They had compatible schedules. And the sex had been good. It had been comfortable.

So comfortable that he'd asked her to marry him. Mulder still marveled at that move. It seemed like an incident from another lifetime. Or another Fox Mulder. He'd been something of a failure in the dating department. He was too intense and too self-absorbed for most women he'd dated, after Phoebe taught him to be guarded with his feelings. When things went smoothly with Diana and she didn't seem to mind his quirks, he figured that this was it. Get married. Start a life. He'd discovered the X-Files and she was enthusiastic about that too. It was all very easy and low key. The proposal was simple, the sex enjoyable after the acceptance, and the ceremony had been quick. Then he was sharing an apartment with her and bearing the brand of a married man—a gold band on his left hand. It was probably the most comfortable relationship of his life.

He knew that it hadn't been life altering, however, when she'd left and he just let it happen with very little fanfare or discussion. Sure, it was a good professional move. He wasn't going to be the guy who stood in the way of someone achieving a goal. Diana had goals. She was more driven than he'd ever been. So, he'd let her go and there were no promises about transfers or speedy visits. Just a goodbye at the airport. After a few lonely weeks, he'd thrown himself headlong into his work on the x-files with very little regret. Her request for a divorce had caused him even less regret several months later.

Seeing her was only awkward because things had changed. He had changed. There were no real wounds or lingering accusations, but he wasn't ready to pick up where they'd left off. As easy as it had been, he no longer wanted that life. He hoped they were on the same page about that, but he wasn't sure. Something in her words and the way she reached out to him made him wonder. Maybe Gibson could inform him better on just which 'girl' really was thinking about him. He was fairly sure it was Diana. And he didn't need Gibson to tell him which 'girl' he was thinking about.

He was happy to see Diana. Happy to see her on a personal level. Happy that someone who shared his beliefs would be working on his side. But he wasn't happy that Scully was there to witness their reunion. Scully had a tendency to get territorial. He had won her trust and she had his. He had no desire to disturb their partnership. If Scully felt that Diana was replacing her—professionally—he might lose what meant the most to him.

Maybe there had been one enduring regret that he'd harbored from the Diana bust up: he had regretted that he was incapable of loving…or being loved. He'd reasoned that if he had been capable of it, he would have loved Diana. He was fairly sure that someone didn't walk out of your life that easily if they loved you and his non-reaction was enough to prove to himself that he similarly had been deluded in his feelings towards her. He'd mistaken comfort for something else. He'd been partially cured of that nagging regret by his partner. It wasn't long into their partnership that he'd realized that she meant the world to him. That he could barely carry on without her. That he loved her. He was capable of loving. There was joy in that.

His cell phone rang on the passenger seat next to him. He reached for the phone, pressing it to his ear. "Mulder."

"You ran out of here awfully quickly." She didn't identify herself, but Mulder knew Diana's voice.

"I have to meet Scully back at the office."

"Ah…"

"You're with Gibson?"

"Haven't left his side."

"Good. Something strange is going on. I'll feel better with you there."

"Glad to help, Fox. Even if you say you don't need me." He could hear the smile in her voice.

"I didn't say that."

"It's good to see you again, Fox."

Mulder would have liked to agree. Because it was. But he didn't know where this line of conversation was heading. "Hey, I'm here at the office. I'll call you later."

* * *

Scully had a bad feeling about Diana. That feeling had only increased when Frohike called her Mulder's 'chickadee.' Why that particular bit of information should irritate her so, she didn't know, but it did. And either Mulder trusted Agent Fowley's professional opinion more or he trusted her personally more, but either way, Scully was beginning to feel like a second fiddle. That remark Agent Fowley had made prior to Mulder's appearance was still ringing in his ears—"he would be better off with someone, who wasn't constantly trying to tear down his theories."

'Someone like you?' Scully thought bitterly. 'Well, where the hell have you been?' And what exactly had Mulder told Agent Fowley about her? Is that what he'd said—tearing down his theories?

Maybe it wasn't so much a bad feeling about Agent Fowley as it was about what she might mean for Scully's partnership with Mulder. It had been a difficult year. Every year seemed like a difficult year since she'd begun her work on the X-Files. She wasn't catching a break. But, she wasn't the only one out on the limb. Mulder was there with her. And there was consolation in that. Mulder had been by her side for many of the most important moments of her life. That those moments had been moments of sadness didn't make them any less significant to her: in fact, the reality that Mulder had stood by her during all those retched moments only made him more commendable in her eyes.

He stayed through disappearances, disappointments, illness, and deaths. He'd held her hand through long nights and dismal mornings. Recently it had been Emily. He'd seen her—really seen her—when she'd mourned the loss of Emily. When she had mourned the loss of a daughter that she hadn't known existed until it was almost too late. No one else had been allowed a glimpse of her weakness. And he was still there: he had seen her weaknesses and he'd told her they were strengths. She imagined that he felt it was the other way around: she was there despite his failings. Scully knew the truth. You don't walk out on someone that's willing to stand by you through everything that life had thrown at her.

Standing in front of her partner, she was afraid that her emotions were boiling over and making an appearance on her face—exactly where she didn't want them. Mulder was looking at her strangely as he leaned back against his desk.

"I get the feeling that you don't trust Diana."

"I don't know Agent Fowley."

"Okay," he said cocking his head.

Scully wet her lips nervously.

"I know her though, Scully."

"I know." It came out sounding brusquer than she had intended it to.

Mulder nodded. "So, you'll trust me?" he asked.

Scully sighed. She was beginning to feel like he needed to trust her or trust in her a little more—not the other way around.

"Mulder, I always do."

He continued to look at her as if he was sizing her up. 'Don't try your profiling bullshit on me, Mulder,' she thought bitterly.

"You want me to trust Agent Fowley, Mulder?"

"I don't want you working against her."

"And you think I have?"

Mulder looked down at his shoes. "No, I wouldn't say that. You're the one with the irrefutable proof. I know that, Scully. You've given us scientific proof in the form of that little boy."

Damn right. Damn right she was the one with all the proof. All Agent Fowley had was a history with Mulder and a desire to hold hands with him, if what she saw was any hint of Diana's aim.

"I'm thrown by what I've found."

"It confirms what Diana and I believe."

There it was again. Diana and I. The old twosome. The new twosome. 'What about me?' she thought silently. 'Hello? What about us?'

"And what is that?"

"That Gibson is the key to something. That he has incredible abilities. That he is in danger."

"Well you're right that he is incredible. His brain function is unheard of, as far as I know."

"You need to tell Skinner this. This is the key to everything in the X-Files, Scully."

"I know. It's what we've been working towards for the past five years together."

'Together, Mulder.'

Mulder reached into his pocket withdrawing his cell phone. "Diana's still with Gibson. I want her here for the meeting."

"Of course."


End file.
